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Remembering Pakistan's finest radio women, Mohini Hameed and Satnam Mahmood

Remembering Pakistan's finest radio women, Mohini Hameed and Satnam Mahmood

Satnam once said, "If Mohini can stitch pearls of Urdu, surely I was expected to produce garlands of roses in Punjabi."
18 Sep, 2016

As 24-hour television, computers and mobile phones take over our lives, it is easy to forget the amazing people who started this communication revolution. They were the radio people.

The coming of radio to Lahore in December 1937 was a moment that brought with it names that soon became household names. Giants like Patras Bokhari, known locally as ‘Barray Bokhari Sahib’, ruled the waves, and with him worked scores of people whose phonic and diction skills he fine-tuned. Their voices became legendary.

As radio in Lahore grew in significance as the sole medium through which listeners could be instantly reached, two women stand out for their brilliance. They were Mohini Hameed and Satnam Mahmood Kaur. These two brilliant voices excelled far beyond the ordinary. In this piece we will dwell on these two outstanding broadcasters and legends of their time.

'Golden Voice Mohini'

First let us take a look at the life of Mohini Das, who came to be called Mohini Hameed. For listeners, mostly children of that age, she was the incomparable ‘Shamim Apa’. In the pre-TV age children in Lahore, as also in villages all over the country where electricity existed, used to sit around their huge radio sets in the evening after dinner and listen to Shamim Apa telling a new story every night in Urdu. The thrill of her voice, the pauses, the silences, she knew how to keep millions glued to her story. For 39 long years listeners in Pakistan and India listened to her voice.

There was just no one like her.

Seen here with Rafi Peer, Mohini Hameed was a masterful storyteller who entranced listeners for 39 long years - Photograph courtesy christiansinpakistan.com
Seen here with Rafi Peer, Mohini Hameed was a masterful storyteller who entranced listeners for 39 long years - Photograph courtesy christiansinpakistan.com

Born in Batala in British Indian Punjab in 1922, Mohini Das joined All-India Radio Lahore, as the radio station was then called, in 1939 at the age of 17. Patras Bokhari had heard her deliver a speech in chaste Urdu at a function in Lahore and he instantly knew that within her a star existed.

Mohini was soon a major female Urdu-language voice and almost every major radio play, or special announcement, had her behind the microphone. With time she kept on improving and excelling in her art. She was much later to reminisce: “Every time I take to the mike, I am nervous lest the words I speak are not delivered properly.”

Come Pakistan on the 14th of August, 1947, and Mohini became the first woman broadcaster of Pakistan.

She had changed her name to Mohini Hameed and had already a daughter who came to be known as Kanwal Hameed. Just as Mohini Hameed was Pakistan’s first woman broadcaster, her daughter Kanwal Hameed, now known as Kanwal Naseer after her marriage to Col Naseer, became Pakistan’s first woman telecaster. Like her mother the daughter inherited the ability to speak clearly, with each word being spoken separately “like a necklace of pearls.”

Over the years as Mohini Hameed excelled, in 1963 at her Silver Jubilee at Radio Pakistan, experts of the BBC Urdu Service dubbed her the ‘Golden Voice of Asia’. This was taken up by other radio stations worldwide and soon she was respectfully referred to as ‘Golden Voice Mohini’. In 1965 she was awarded the ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ and in 1969 when for the first time the United Nations declared it a ‘Woman’s Year’, it was the picture of Mohini Hameed that donned UN posters the world over. For Pakistan it was a unique honour. The voice finally appeared as a picture.

Just as Mohini Hameed was Pakistan’s first woman broadcaster, her daughter Kanwal Hameed, now known as Kanwal Naseer after her marriage to Col Naseer, became Pakistan’s first woman telecaster. Like her mother the daughter inherited the ability to speak clearly, with each word being spoken separately “like a necklace of pearls.”

After working from Lahore for a full 50 years, the woman with the golden voice, Mohini Hameed, retired and with her husband A. Hameed migrated to the USA to live a meaningful life recording religious programmes for broadcasting to Pakistan and the Middle East.

In 1998 she was again awarded a second ‘Tamgha-e-Imtiaz’ and in 1999 given a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation. She passed away in 2009 and the Lahore studio of Radio Pakistan was renamed ‘Mohini Hameed Studio’.

Like her mother, her daughter Kanwal Naseer, has also completed 50 years in radio and television, and now resides in Islamabad.

Satnam Mahmood

While on the one hand we have the great Mohini Hameed speaking in Urdu, in the Punjabi language the first broadcaster was Satnam Mahmood. She was lovingly called ‘Nama’ by everyone in Lahore. Her voice had a lyrical touch which people still remember with immense fondness.

Satnam Mahmood was a civil servant and professor who made Punjabi broadcasting history - Photograph courtesy Womens Action Forum Karachi chapter's Facebook page
Satnam Mahmood was a civil servant and professor who made Punjabi broadcasting history - Photograph courtesy Womens Action Forum Karachi chapter's Facebook page

Born in Lahore on Oct 16, 1921, to the famous Punjabi poet, journalist and novelist Charan Singh ‘Shaheed’ and Sakina Singh, her great grandfather has served in Ranjit Singh’s army as a cavalry soldier in the ‘Fauj-e-Khas’. So the family was always very much in the progressive freedom movement.

She married the well-known progressive freedom fighter Mahmood Ali Khan, brother of the famous journalist Mazhar Ali Khan and uncle of Tariq Ali, the writer and former student leader.

Satnam’s own family, as the synonym of her poet father ‘Shaheed’ indicates, had instilled in her the urge to excel. She once told a gathering in Lahore, narrating in her humorous manner: “My father kept telling me to educate myself till all the books in the world finish.”

And so when Pakistan came about she joined Civil Service, and was among the first women to do so, going on to Harvard with the first batch of trainees. There she excelled and gained a doctorate in education. So the famous Punjabi-language broadcaster had multiple interests in life, excelling far beyond the ordinary in each one.

Satnam Kaur started her career as a broadcaster in All-India Radio’s Lahore studio in 1941, very much inspired by the voice of Mohini Hameed.

She once in the company of Faiz Ahmed Faiz quipped: “If Mohini can stitch pearls of Urdu, surely I was expected to produce garlands of roses in Punjabi.” To this Faiz immediately replied: “You are capable of stitching garlands in Urdu, Punjabi and even English.”

But then Satnam Kaur had chosen a niche in Punjabi broadcasting and soon Radio Lahore was transmitting some excellent plays in her mother tongue. Patras Bokhari is said to have the highest regard for her intellectual excellence.

As a bureaucrat Satnam was excelling in the field of women’s education. Her contribution remains second to none. On the theoretical side of ‘public administration’ she wrote a number of book on ‘case studies’ and how to learn from them. In the Administrative Staff College she was a respected professor, while also lecturing in Government College and the Punjab University.

After her husband died in 1961, Dr Satnam Mahmood took a decreasing interest in broadcasting and concentrated more on women rights issues. She was the person who triggered the setting up of the Women’s Action Forum, always staying away from what she termed “begum causes”. The fighter in her passed on to her daughters and granddaughters. One granddaughter, Maliha Zia Lari, is a leading women’s rights activist in Karachi, as was her late mother Shehla Zia.

But the woman known to everyone as ‘Nama’ remained dear to all her friends in Lahore, especially in Radio Pakistan and a number of educational institutions. She died in Islamabad in October 1995 of heart failure. Even today one often hears in intellectual gathering stories of her wit and knowledge.

So it was that the two finest radio broadcasters, Mohini Hameed and Satnam Mahmood Kaur, lived and enriched Lahore like few have. One is reminded of a saying of the poet Hafiz of Sheraz: “I am helpless when a woman speaks fluently, for surely she is speaking words of wisdom.”


Originally published in Dawn, September 18th, 2016

Comments

deendayal Sep 18, 2016 01:29pm
Radio still has its charm. Radio stations are available on mobile phones on FM frequency. Radio will never die. The beauty of radio is one can continue to do one's work while listening,unlike the television. In far-flung areas having mountains,radio is a great means of communication.
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Wajahat Sep 18, 2016 02:50pm
We are honoured to have them!
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Qamar Valliani Sep 18, 2016 03:56pm
I have heard that Indian actor Om Parkash was also announcer of All -India Radio , Lahore.
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Bob Sep 18, 2016 05:28pm
Both the women broadcasters were Hindus initially.
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Thoroughthinker Sep 18, 2016 05:41pm
@Qamar Valliani : He was drama artist and musician in Lahore Radio, before '47.
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Azhar Piracha Sep 18, 2016 06:58pm
@Bob No Satnam Mehmood was born sikh and not hindu.
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S. A. M. Sep 18, 2016 07:23pm
@Bob So Does that make difference.
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Waqar Sep 18, 2016 07:40pm
@Bob No, Mohini was Christian. In 1977, Mohini retired and left Pakistan for the USA to join the Christian missionary work which was her lifelong ambition. She joined Key Communications, which evangelizes to South Asia. She recorded the gospel in the Urdu language, for radio-broadcast to Pakistan and the Middle East. Due to the loss of her eyesight, she completed recording most of but not all of the epistles.
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Bhai Jan Sep 18, 2016 07:44pm
Can Radio Pakistan release some audio of these great announcers out of its archives? It will be a treat to listen.
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Riz USA Sep 18, 2016 08:15pm
Very Impressive. Dynamic Women
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Khan Sep 18, 2016 09:30pm
@Bob - Sikhs are not Hindus. One of the lady was a Sikh, Satnam Mahmood Kaur
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Najam Sep 18, 2016 09:52pm
Thank you, loved reading about women who left their mark.
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KHK Sep 19, 2016 12:19am
Unfortunately we forget the pioneers in the field of liberating Pakistani women such as Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan , Khurshid Jahan and many others.
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shereen Sep 19, 2016 02:19am
Loved reading about the beautiful voices. And as a few others said radio won't die because its charm is its own. There is no match to a lazy Sunday morning with radio on a beramda. Jivay mera L'hor!
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Reverseswing Sep 19, 2016 02:37am
The best way to pay tribute to these two daughters of Pakistan is by playing their recorded voices on PTVas well as on other private TV Channels like Geo, ARY, Express, etc
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Reverseswing Sep 19, 2016 02:44am
@Bob Mohini and Satnam were originally Hindu and Sikh respectively.
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open minded Sep 19, 2016 06:14am
@Bob hindu and sikh respectively - mohini and satnam
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Mian Amir Hakim Sep 19, 2016 08:06am
A wonderful article indeed. In all form, prose, simplicity of writing, and material. The writer deserves highest form of commendation.
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Naeem Zaidi Sep 19, 2016 11:44am
A good article.is it possible we could have their voices as well from radio archives. after reading this article dyeing to listen their voices.
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almas mohommad Sep 19, 2016 12:06pm
what a story - it fills my eyes with tears - how we were then and how we are now - who should we blame for it - rise o people rise before it is too late dawn - please continue with these stories and i keep repeating , please put in frontline news - put your coulumn in the wire , they shouls publish, also in times of india, gulf news dubai and khaleej times
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Pakistan First Last and Forever Sep 20, 2016 01:14am
Great article. Well researched. I am honored to learn about these great women who have done a marvellous job and their contributions to radio Pakistan is immense. Thank you Dawn for a very good informative article.
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Ijaz Sep 20, 2016 04:30am
@Bob Not that it makes any difference, one was a Christian and the other (Satnam) born a Sikh who converted.
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Noal Sep 20, 2016 06:11am
Can anyone tell where Nama is if she is alive or Shammi Baji? Or her younger sister Shezan. I am Mishki (Rahim), Babu's son and Entoo's nephew from E.Pakistan living in Lahore. My e-mail is noalurr@yahoo.com. Please, please write me. I am in Canada and have been trying to find the family ever since 1975.
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Noal Sep 20, 2016 06:12am
@Khan Dr. (Mrs) Satnum Mahmood to be exact.
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Bupi Sep 21, 2016 06:59pm
@Qamar Valliani No dear it was Sunil Dutt father of Sanjay Dutt & husband of Nargish Dutt
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